Diving with Dinosaurs by PV Native Bryce Trevett
Diving with Dinosaurs
by PV Native Bryce Trevett
Imagine, after taking one single breath of air and suddenly you are submerged under water into a poorly lit, murky, eerie world where you are immediately no longer at the top of the food chain, and the animal at the top of the food chain could be stalking you at any moment. That is a world not many of us would aim to immerse ourselves in. Imagine that very animal that is at the top of the food chain laying just inches in front of your face. So close that you can see every chip and crack in its thumb sized teeth. Its ten-foot-long body covered in concrete like armor, full of so much power it can break a leg with a single swing of its tail. Sharing space and free diving in the wild with the American alligator is a hobby most would consider to be for the adrenaline junky, but for me it is the exact opposite. Under the surface of the swamp, I feel a calm and euphoric sensation surging through my body when I am up close and personal with these modern day dinosaurs. I would like to take this time to take you with me into the underwater world of the alligator. A story accompanied with videos and photographs that will allow you to see a perspective very rarely seen, if at all.
I grew up in Palos Verdes with a passion for the outdoors and wildlife. I spent every waking moment as a kid trying to catch lizards, snakes, and anything I could get my hands on around the local hiking trails. As I got older, my wildlife passion followed me into the ocean. I learned how to free dive and spear fish. I realized that the underwater world quickly became my home away from home, my sanctuary, and a place that called to me 24/7. Throughout high school my passion motivated me to pursue wildlife research. This led me to win science fairs and gain the attention of spectators and actual biologists who afforded me the opportunity to travel to Brazil with them to assist in their projects with wildlife. I did not know it at the time, but this experience would change my life forever. It is where I had my first real encounter with wild crocodilians. During my time in Brazil, I got to hand catch these animals in the swamps at night. This was in order to secure pit tags in them for the research I was assisting with. That is where my love for crocodilians really blossomed. Once I returned back to Palos Verdes, I was disappointed to return to a place where no native crocodilians existed. I made the best of what we did have and took to shark diving. I bought a jet ski and would regularly ride out near Catalina. I would chum sharks to the ski so I could get in and dive with them to photograph them.
I learned so much working with these top predators. I often wondered if I could dive with alligators like I do with sharks. Shark diving is in fact quite safe if you know what you are doing. These predators respond primitively to our behaviors. If you act like food, they will perceive you as such. If you act as a dominate figure and as something far from food, you can stay quite safe during a shark dive. On the flip side, if you don’t understand their behaviors, an accident can happen rather quickly. There is a very fine line when it comes to your behavior and the animals that determines the outcomes of interactions with apex predators.
Throughout the years I was lucky enough to work all around the world with wildlife, primarily reptiles. I assisted in finding new species of reptiles in Cambodia and Malaysia. I worked with crocodiles in Australia, Africa, and caimans in Costa Rica. I also worked with a wildlife sanctuary in Southern California. The sanctuary specialized in educational work and had an alligator named fluffy, that I regularly worked with. I learned a lot about how the species behaves and even got in a pool with it to film for a TV show. Even though I had been working with all these crocodilians around the globe, I had never actually been underwater with them, until this situation. I realized how calm the animal was underwater and again wondered if I could do this with wild alligators. This is when I finally decided to explore the possibility and bought a ticket to Florida to find out firsthand.
I went with buddy and rented a car where we headed straight out to the Everglades region of South Florida. We found a back road that had a shallow, clear creek running on both sides. As we drove down the road, it didn’t take long to see our first alligator. An impressive eleven foot gator was sunning itself on the side of the road. This alligator was absolutely massive. Fat as mud and every inch of it was solid muscle. We slowly walked towards it. When we got ten feet away it instantly retreated from its position and quickly exploded with immense power and took off into the water. It then dove to the bottom and hid. Having worked with predators before, I did actually expect this reaction. Even though the animal was much larger than myself, and certainly capable of killing me, it was afraid by our presence. To understand why, you must put yourself in the alligator's mind. Its head is only a few inches off the ground. Looking up at a standing human is like a human looking up at Godzilla. Quite ironic if you think about that analogy. A human is towering over that gator by five or six feet. In the eyes of the alligator, a human standing fully upright is terrifying and certainly not something it wants to investigate further.
I decided this was a good opportunity to get in the water with a wild alligator and test my knowledge, for the first time. I assumed that as long as I stayed underwater, I could be safe. Before entering the alligators under world, I briefed myself on where the risks were going to be during this free dive. I knew that the most dangerous moments would be when only a portion of my body would be sticking out above the surface. An alligator on the water’s surface would only see my head and shoulders. In the mind of an alligator, that would be the same size of a raccoon, possum, soft-shell turtle, or a duck. All ideal sized prey items that an alligator is constantly keeping an eye out for and not keeping track of my where my body parts were in relation to the surface could result in making me look like I was on the menu. However, I was a well trained and practiced free diver and was cognizant of my ability to sty down for a few minutes at a time. I could come up for air and just have my snorkel break the surface while I breath up before another couple minutes fully submerged. After this mental briefing, I then dawned my snorkel gear and silently slipped into the dark waters.
My arrival into the water was discreet because any splash or quick movement could easily excite any alligator in the area. Quiet and stealthy was the name of the game. As my head submerged below the surface, I felt an immediate and instant sense of alertness come over my body. My heart was pounding. Although, I couldn’t see an alligator in the moment, I instantly felt that I was being hunted. I had to remind myself that my knowledge and experience working with crocodilians would keep me safe. However, I knew in the back of my mind I was really throwing the dice here. The truth is, you can never be sure with nature and wildlife. If I were wrong about how these alligators would respond, I knew I could easily lose limbs or be killed rather quickly.
Overhead, the entire creek was covered by trees, which resulted in some areas of the water to be very dark. It was quite shallow, only about 5-6 feet deep, with a slight yellow tint to the water. This was from the tanic acid, which seeps out of decaying vegetation at the bottom of the creek. In an eerie way, the surroundings were actually quite beautiful. Prehistoric looking cypress tree roots mixed with dead snags stretched everywhere underwater. In some places the light broke through spaces in the trees covering the creek. Those streaks of sun light illuminated small areas under the water. That created some absolutely beautiful contrasts next to the mostly dark water. Many species of freshwater fish darted across my path. Turtles swam out from under logs, and even a diving bird passed by me underwater. While taking in the alligator's domain, I crept along the bottom, slowly, with my fingertips in the direction of a trail of bubbles, leading me in the direction where the alligator had vanished to. As I crept along the bottom, I just couldn’t shake off the thought of this or a different alligator coming up behind me and taking me out. Trying to stay focused, I continued to put one hand in front of the other, crawling along the bottom on a single breath hold. Suddenly, just as I was about to lose the last ounce of breath I had left, my heart jumped into my throat. What seemed to appear out of nowhere, no more than a few feet in front of my face, was a giant, brilliantly white smile from that eleven foot alligator. There it was, just sitting there staring at me, head on. I was motionless, like a frozen statue. I knew from working with them on land that they are capable of lunging forward, and I was in the danger zone. Would it lunge forward underwater? I wasn’t sure. Although, I had a plan in mind, if it had gone towards me I would lift its head up by placing my hand under the jaw, pinching, and lifting up. It puts them in a bit of a trance and allows you to maneuver their face away from you. However, I didn't need to. It was relaxed, in fact, it was actually unbothered by my presence. I laid down in front of it and remained motionless for minutes. The longer I laid there, the more relaxed I became. It was a truly beautiful and humbling sight to behold. I was able to so clearly see the adaptations that has perfectly designed this animal for life in the water. Alligators have a third eye lid that covers their eye when underwater. It is a cloudy blue color and protects the eye from damage as well as helps it see, acting like a pair of swimming goggles. I could clearly see these eye lids staring right at me. It’s ear hole, nostrils, and those blue eyes were all positioned perfectly on top of it’s head. This allowed the alligator to stalk prey on the surface or bank without having any other part of it’s body visible. It’s massive scales, called scutes, are bony scales with a ridge on them. I could see every single ridge on every single scale. The design of this animal is just absolutely perfect in every way. After a few minutes, the alligator took a step back, slowly turned, and vanished into even darker areas of the swamp where I couldn’t even see without a diving flashlight. That first experience with an alligator underwater was something a will never forget.
The following year after that encounter, I actually moved to Florida so I could dive with alligators regularly. I spent every single day off work out in the swamps diving with alligators. It became my favorite place to dive. I spent hundreds of hours sharing space with them underwater. I learned so much about their habits, their behaviors, and how they see us as humans. Everything I learned throughout the process allowed me to enter their home and leave in one piece. I learned that their immediate perception is everything. If they can see your entire body, both above or under water, they want nothing to do with you. They will either sit there and allow your presence, or turn and move off in the opposite direction. If they can see only a piece of you, that changes the game completely. I once got in the water with a two foot long alligator. This little alligator wouldn’t be big enough to do any real damage to a human, however, when I got in the water, I hid everything from my nose down. Just the top of my head was visible. That two foot alligator made an immediate advance at my face with an open mouth. I let it get within a few feet and then stood up. It stopped, turned, and high tailed it the other way, like a bat out of hell. I would like to think I wouldn’t still be here had I not gained such an understanding of these prehistoric creatures. After hundreds of sessions underwater with alligators, I have only had a few try and actually attack me. All it took to stop the attack was for me to either stand up or completely submerge myself underwater. I just needed to make my entire body visible to the animal and it remained relaxed. A couple times I did have to put a hand under the jaw and maneuver underneath the gator. This pushes it up and over me in another direction. This startles them and shifts their view of you as dominate, because prey items do not reach out and touch you as a predator.
The million dollar question I get asked often, why do I get in the water with wild alligators? Well, it is not for an adrenaline rush. The best way to describe it is to compare it to the opening scene in Jurassic Park where Dr. Grant first sees the giant long-necked dinosaur walking through the savannah. He was just in awe. He takes his sunglasses off, almost falls out of the jeep, and ignores everyone else. It is clearly the most moved he has ever felt in his life. I feel so calm and at one with another kind of being next to these animals. Even though I am entering into a world where I don't really belong, I feel at home. The first time I entered the water and was face to face with an alligator, my heart was beating out of my chest, but now, it slows to a level where time feels like it slows down. It is quite a euphoric feeling. I am so calm down there. During my time with these animals, I like to hang back to photograph and video tape these amazing creatures. I learn so much from them. I have even observed a particular alligator day after day that had a particular liking for snails as food. Almost every day, I could lay a few feet from it underwater and watch it carefully sift through the mud and find these tiny little snails. It was actually funny to me to see this animal with giant teeth so fond of something like a snail when it didn’t even bat an eye at a turtle or water snake cruising by. I have recently moved back to California, but I dream about diving with them regularly and I miss it. A parting piece of advice, I do not recommend this to anyone without experience, supervision or knowledge of the species. It is an extremely dangerous activity that requires very intimate knowledge of how they behave and what to do if things go wrong, which they can in the blink of an eye. These animals have survived since the days of dinosaurs and demand a healthy respect and equal amount of admiration.
Bio:
Bryce Trevett, 30, is a wildlife enthusiast who has spent his life working with animals. He has assisted on wildlife research projects in six different countries, has been published in academic journals, acknowledged in field guides describing south East Asian reptiles and amphibians, and has spent time in many more locations photographing/filming animals on his own time as a hobby. He grew up in Palos Verdes, Ca where his passion for wildlife was sparked at an early age. Bryce studied herpetology at La Sierra University, and received a natural sciences degree from Los Angeles Harbor College. He spent many years volunteering at the Los Angeles zoo and a wildlife education center in Southern California. Throughout the years Bryce has worked as an emergency medical technician on an ambulance and in the emergency department. Bryce has most recently been working as a flight attendant for a major airline which allows him to travel around the world pursuing his wildlife goals and endeavors. He is currently in a pilot academy attaining his commercial pilots license. This career allows him to make a good living while at the same time allowing him to accomplish all his wildlife ambitions. Bryce spends his free time hiking, surfing, free diving, photographing wildlife, and participating in two step country dancing.
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